Where do you go after running the Metropolitan Museum of Art? A magic garden. Carrie Rebora Barratt capped her third year as director of East Hamptons’ LongHouse Reserve at their “Imagination” gala. And demonstrated: by reimagining the Hamptons home of the late Jack Lenor Larsen she created a new professional home for herself.
Visiting that home at the gala, we saw Barratt knows how to throw a party. Revelers in colorful clothing encountered coconut water cocktails, Time Lapse Dancers, Italian designer living areas and more. All blending seamlessly with what makes LongHouse so magical: garden-filled art, including an iconic Buckminster Fuller Geodesic dome and Yoko Ono white chess set (“Play it by Trust”) and “Wishing Tree.”
Winding paths opened to delightful surprises: a courtyard filled with big ticket art for auction; a waterfall with hanging Chihuly blue glass icicles; more white living rooms on grass and pavement with bars and passed hors d’oeuvres. Italian design Paola Lenti had shipped more than 100 pieces of her uber upscale outdoor furniture from Italy. Dinner was served in a different field. Everywhere, longtime regulars mixed with new young supporters.
“LongHouse in 2024 is truly having its comeback season,” said Carrie. “Coming out of the pandemic and sustaining the loss of our amazing founder, Jack Lenor Larsen have brought many changes. I always said it would take three years to really become the lively, beautiful place that we’re seeing this summer.
“Attendance has quadrupled. Membership is at an all time high. The garden is glorious. We’ve added many new plants, including an uncommon pollinator shade garden, as we preserve the garden of ideas that Jack created and invited us to maintain.”
The evening honored Kenny Scharf and Tony Bechera. Machine Dazzle emceed. Certain Moves provided music. And the art? Willem de Kooning, Yoko Ono, Sol LeWitt, Ai Weiwei Daniel Arsham, Toshiko Takaezu and Agathe Snow are among its permanent and on loan collection.
Installation-based artist Randy Polumbo introduced Kenny Scharf. “I first spotted him in the East Village basement of a building where my friends and he were working,” Polumbo said. “I was consulted for emergency repairs, being almost 18 and halfway through art school with numerous handyman jobs under my belt, including fixing Soho electrical and plumbing allegedly done by Philip Glass and Richard Sera. It was beautiful work, just at the end of its useful life. I don’t want to disrespect the elders.” There was also a shoutout to Wilma, “the hen who had free run of Kenny’s studio.”
Latin American art scholar, advocate and collector Estrellita Brodsky also introduced a longtime friend, Tony Bechara. A Puerto Rican native with a long New York history as a painter and philanthropist, he has been particularly involved in steering El Museo Del Barrio as well as being a BAM trustee.
She praised Tony’s “seemingly random but meticulously programmed language of color exploration. His paintings are reflections of an incredibly intellectual understanding of the traditions of weaving, of phenomenological theories across art histories and ultimately succeed in challenging our very understanding of visual perception destabilized through a prescient pixilated field.”
On the LongHouse field, artists, art world and longtime LongHouse leaders joined young Wall Street arty types and socials. Things are definitely jelling after the sea change of losing Jack.
“I joined LongHouse at a super exciting time, when the place itself was no longer a residence,” Barratt told me. “Like a lot of historic homes that go through transitions, Manitoba in Garrison (home of mid-century designer Russel Wright), and the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, for example. The heavy lift after that artist dies is to really create an exciting professional organization.”
Barratt continued, “Jack was one of the greatest raconteurs and bon vivant characters in the Hamptons over the 30 years he lived here. Now LongHouse is a cultural institution, not a residence.” They are open longer hours. There are more programs, more plans for the future. Liz Collins was the first artist in residence. Next year, Machine moves in. “I spent last night in Peter’s bedroom,” Dazzle told me of Jack’s widower. The vibe remains.
Anne Erni, who co-chaired with LongHouse Board Chairman Nina Gillman, is part of the new vibe. “I was excited to join the board two years ago because there are very few opportunities where you can really make an immediate difference,” Anne told me. “Going through this transition from founder-led Jack’s home to a nonprofit public place is an opportunity to just let your imagination run wild. I’m very passionate about our sculpture gardens, new programs and education for the kids.”
In the past three years LongHouse has gained 12 new board members and an entirely new staff. It all happened, Barratt says, “in the Post Pandemic era. LongHouse’s playful combination of art in nature is so delicious at this time when we are all enjoying nature and the promise of outdoor culture is more important than ever.”
Barratt has brought “book talks, workshops, children’s programs, dog days, exciting partnerships with other local organizations and a new focus on design, as LongHouse tries to figure out the greatest value to add to a community that has so many cultural institutions.” Jack was a fabric designer. And the Paola Lenti contemporary outdoor design furnishing show, largely curated by Sherri Donghia, is an example of future direction.
In the immediate future, Barbara Tober will host a reception for the concert by pianist and composer Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner on August 3.
And Maryam Eisler will lead two artist conversations, with Shirin Neshat, Mickalene Thomas, Max Blagg on August 22, and with Eric Fischl, Harper Levine, Joel Mesler, Sheree Hovsepian on August 28, to coincide with Eisler’s exhibit, Confined Artists — Free Spirits: Portraits & Interviews from Lockdown 2020 (August 22 – September 1).
How has Carrie Rebora Barratt pulled it all together? Experience, of course! She spent 30 years at the largest art museum in the Americas, the last ten as Deputy Director, overseeing 27 departments and more than 400 in staff. Then, she was the first woman CEO and President of New York Botanical Garden.
“The world of global art, public access and glamour is something that I grew up with working at the Met for half my life,” she answered that question. “I spent more time there than at home. That’s where I learned how great institutions should run, how boards should run, how to harness the collective intelligence of staff collaborations, outside partnerships and global relationships. I couldn’t imagine leaving that for another museum. Being there (New York Botanical Garden) and becoming part of a cohort of leaders across the country brought me into a world of science, environmental change, plant ecology, and the beauty of outdoor sculpture. I’m so happy to be able to leverage all of that for LongHouse.”
